Background
Assessed By: Kanchan KaurAssessed On: 3/2/2019
Assessment Conclusion
A short summary in native publishing language
As of 3/2/2019 Kanchan Kaur assesses this application as
Section 1 : ORGANIZATION
To be eligible to be a signatory, applicants must meet these two criteria
Proof of registration Evidence required: Please provide evidence that the signatory is a legally-registered organization set up exclusively for the purpose of fact-checking or the distinct fact-checking project of a recognized media house or research institution.
The applicant has provided necessary registration details.
Archive Evidence required: Insert a link to the archive of fact checks published in the previous three months. If you do not collect all fact checks in one place, please explain how the fact-checking is conducted by your organization.
Monthly Archive November 2018: https://www.altnews.in/2018/11/
Monthly Archive December 2018: https://www.altnews.in/2018/02/
Monthly Archive January 2019: https://www.altnews.in/2019/01/
The applicant evaluates claims on the basis of their accuracy. It publishes fact checks on a regular basis, more than one a week over the previous three months.
Section 2 : NONPARTISANSHIP AND FAIRNESS
To be eligible to be a signatory, applicants must meet these two criteria
Body of work sample Evidence required: Please share links to ten fact checks that better represent the scope and consistency of your fact-checking. Provide a short explanation of how your organization strives to maintain coherent standards across fact checks.
Fact checking at Alt News encompasses scrutinising statements made by persons in positions of authority, misinformation/disinformation that circulates on social media and inaccurate or misleading information disseminated by mainstream media. The Alt News team keeps a close eye on social media trends round the clock, apart from constantly monitoring news emanating from mainstream media outlets. Alt News is frequently tagged by social media users on various platforms in order to verify authenticity of information which is then promptly followed up. A large proportion of misinformation/disinformation that floods the social media space in India is politically motivated, and Alt News strongly believes in fact-checking all ends of the existing political spectrum in India and reports without fear or favour. Alt News adheres to strict non-partisanship in coverage in order to maintain credibility in the public sphere.
Fact-checking different political parties and leaders:
https://www.altnews.in/fact-check-rahul-gandhis-claim-wealth-inequality-india/
Fact-checking main stream media organisations
https://www.altnews.in/top-fake-news-stories-circulated-indian-media-2017/
https://www.altnews.in/one-time-police-nothing-detention-donkeys/
Fact-checking social media
https://www.altnews.in/top-fake-news-circulated-social-media-2017/
https://www.altnews.in/misleading-video-pm-modis-educational-qualification-circulates-social-media/
https://www.altnews.in/rahul-gandhi-sign-somnath-temple-register-non-hindu/
https://www.altnews.in/vicious-cycle-fake-images-basirhat-riots/
The fact checks made by the applicant cover a variety of subjects and do not concentrate on one side of the topic they cover. They are quite non-partisan.
Nonpartisanship policy Evidence required: Please share evidence of your policy preventing staff from direct involvement in political parties and advocacy organizations. Please also indicate the policy your organization has as a whole regarding advocacy and supporting political candidates.
Alt News does not endorse any political parties or candidates, and does not participate in any events of electoral campaigns for political parties. Employees at Alt News are required to strictly adhere to the tenets of neutrality while reporting on political stories. Articles which are politically sensitive are vetted by multiple editors before publishing. Since its inception, Alt News has fact checked all hues of the political spectrum and does not allow personal preferences and/or biases to influence editorial content.
It would help for the applicant to produce a copy of letters of contract/employment issued to employees that may include clauses on non-partisanship. Also, if the applicant has a more comprehensive editorial policy, it would help to take a look at it.
Section 3 : TRANSPARENCY OF SOURCES
To be eligible to be a signatory, applicants must meet this criteria
Sources Policy Please share a brief and public explanation (500 words max) of how sources are provided in enough detail that readers could replicate the fact check. If you have a public policy on how you find and use sources for your fact-checking, it should be shared here.
Sourcing of information depends on the kind of stories Alt News tackles as part of its fact checking exercise. With regard to claims involving statistics and data, we provide links for various sources from Government publications to research conducted by think tanks and reputed organisations which are referred to in the article. For fact-checking which quotes individuals, we always clearly specify the name and designation of the concerned individual and we do not quote anonymous sources. As for fact-checks which depend on verification using Internet tools such as Reverse Image Search, we always explain how we used various Internet tools to arrive at a conclusion so that the user can follow the same procedure to verify the result.
The applicant always lists key sources in a manner that the audience can replicate most fact-checks. It has a clear description of its sourcing policy.
Section 4 : TRANSPARENCY OF FUNDING & ORGANIZATION
To be eligible to be a signatory, applicants must meet these three criteria
Funding Sources Evidence required: Please link to the section where you publicly list your sources of funding (including, if they exist, any rules around which types of funding you do or don't accept), or a statement on ownership if you are the branch of an established media organization or research institution.
All the expenses including salaries of the employees are paid either from the grants received by the company or from the corpus collected via donations from the Alt News website. Every article has a donation pledge with a link to our donation page (https://www.altnews.in/donate/). We accept donations from individuals with an Indian bank account via a payment portal called Instamojo. Instamojo lets individuals donate either via their card or via net banking. We also accept cheques in the name of the organisation (Pravda Media Foundation) mailed to the official address. We do not accept funds in Non-Indian currency. We also do not accept cash deposits or donations.The complete details of grants/funds received can be seen in the link below.
The applicant has clearly indicated where its funding comes from.
Staff Evidence required: Please link to the section detailing all authors and key actors behind your fact-checking project with their biographies. You can also list the name and bios of the members of the editorial board, pool of experts, advisory board, etc. if your organization has those.
The names of the organisations key personnel--editorial staff and directors--are clearly listed and their bios are available on the website.
Contact Evidence required: Please link to the section where readers can get in touch with the organization.
Contact page: https://www.altnews.in/contact/
The applicant actively invites readers to send claims. It also has a clear contact page.
Section 5 : TRANSPARENCY OF METHODOLOGY
To be eligible to be a signatory, applicants must meet these two criteria
Detailed Methodology Evidence required: Please link to a section or article detailing the steps you follow for your fact-checking work.
Details of Methdology: https://www.altnews.in/methodology-for-fact-checking/
The applicant's website clearly explains its methodology, in detail, step by step.
Claim submissions Evidence required: Please link to the page or process through which readers can submit claims to fact-check. If you do not allow this, please briefly explain why.
Users can submit their claims that they need fact-checked via the Contact page on the website or email them to our contact email address - contact@altnews.in. Individual emails of authors are also provided if they need to be contacted. We also encourage users to tag us on Facebook and Twitter and we keep a constant lookout for the same.
It would help for the applicant to invite readers more proactively to send claims to fact check. At the moment, it only has a contact page from which readers can write to the website. The applicant might want to consider a panel or an invitation at the end of each article or fact-checked claim.
Section 6 : OPEN & HONEST CORRECTIONS POLICY
To be eligible to be a signatory, applicants must meet these two criteria
Corrections policy Evidence required: Please link to the page with your policy to address corrections. If it is not public, please share your organization's handbook.
Correction Policy: https://www.altnews.in/correction-policy/
The applicant's website makes a generic reference to how corrections are conducted.
Examples of corrections Evidence required: Please provide two examples of a correction made, or correction requests handled, in the past year.
The organisation has provided two examples of a correction handled by them.
Alt News works under the aegis of Pravda Media Foundation. Pravda Media Foundation is a Section 8 (Not For Profit) company registered with Ministry of Corporate Affairs in India. The company details and the details of the directors can be accessed on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs. To view information about Pravda Media Foundation, please visit the following link (http://www.mca.gov.in/mcafoportal/viewCompanyMasterData.do) and search using the Company Identification Number U93030GJ2017NPL099435.